Veteran industrialist Rahul Bajaj at an Economic Times award function said there was an "atmosphere of fear". He said people were afraid to criticise the government and do not have the confidence that the government will appreciate any criticism, PTI reported. According to The Quint, Bajaj posed these Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Rail Minister Piyush Goyal present at the function, questioning Shah about Bhopal MP Pragya Thakur’s Godse remark, asking “if there was a doubt that Godse was a terrorist”. “Nobody from our industrialist friends will speak, I will say openly. When UPA II was in power, we could criticise anyone. You [the government] are doing good work, but despite that we don’t have the confidence that you will appreciate if we criticise you openly," he said, reported The Indian Express.
Replying to Bajaj's comments, Shah said that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has already condemned her remarks and the party has taken action against her. "Neither the government, nor the BJP supports such remarks. We strongly condemn it," he said. The home ministry denied allegation that there was an atmosphere of fear in the country. "No need to fear about anything. The Narendra Modi-government has been criticised continuously in media. But, if you are saying that there is such an environment, we need to work to improve this," he said. Shah said that the government is working in a most transparent manner and if there is any criticism— depending on its merit, they try to improve on that. On the situation in Kashmir, the home minister asked the industry community to visit the valley with family and assess the real situation there.
Former prime minister Manmohan Singh had, on Friday, pointed out that with the clear majority in Lok Sabha and low crude oil prices, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had the "once in a generation" opportunity to catapult India onto the next level of growth, and urged Modi to set aside deep-rooted distrust and take India on a high growth trajectory. "There is a palpable atmosphere of fear. Every section is living in fear of authorities, and afraid to do anything," Singh said, adding that the confidence of media, judiciary, the industry, and the creative people has been eroded, and there is deep distrust, suspicion, and pervasive fear, which stifle growth.
Singh was speaking after news reports emerged that India's GDP growth, which hit a six-year low of 5 per cent in the first quarter of the financial year, had further dipped to 4.5 per cent. India's economy had grown 7 per cent in the corresponding quater in the previous financial year. The sharp drop in GDP growth rate is on expected lines as predicted by economists across the spectrum, who pegged the growth to be between 4.2 per cent and 4.7 per cent. The drop in GDP growth has been attributed to weak manufacturing and a drop in exports due to a global slowdown. This is the slowest expansion in about 26 quarters. The GDP recorded a growth rate of 4.3 per cent in January-March 2013.
-Inputs from PTI
